Teen-Age Baby-Sitter Surrenders With Toddlers Missing Since Sunday

A teen-age girl who disappeared Sunday with two toddlers she was helping to baby-sit called police Tuesday night from a South-Central Los Angeles market to surrender, authorities said.

Tamicia Lynette McGee, a 16-year-old with the mental capacity of a young child and what authorities described as “an admiration for small children,” gave herself and the children up to police in front of a market in the 5800 block of South Hoover Street about 7 p.m., said Los Angeles Police Lt. Ed Wilson.

Wilson said McGee and the children were waiting in front of the store when a squad car pulled up. By nightfall, they had been reunited with their mother.

Lt. Victor Guzman, commander of the Police Department’s Southeast Division detective bureau, had said earlier in the day that McGee, “who acts more like a 10-year-old,” was not considered a kidnaping suspect.

“We don’t fear that she’s hurt the youngsters,” Guzman said Tuesday afternoon. “She has an admiration for small children, and likes to act the role of the mother. She’s like a little girl, playing with her dolls.”

Last weekend, Guzman said, the teen-ager was assisting a friend who was caring for 3-year-old Desiree Denise Nelson and her 19-month-old half brother, Anthony Leon Bolden, in an apartment at the Imperial Courts housing project.

“At about 8 a.m. Sunday, the 16-year-old walked out with the two little children,” the lieutenant said.

After returning home to find the children gone, their mother, Nikiasha Hampton, issued a tearful plea for their safe return.

Detectives said the teen-ager had a history of running away from her family and had been absent from her home for the past month, living with other relatives and friends. Officers said that in the past she had convinced others that she has children of her own, and may have done so again.